Kitchen Islands – “I want it, can I have it?”

Question from Trevor in Glasgow:I’d really like an island in my kitchen but I don’t think there’s room. I need an area for 4 people to eat breakfast and tea. What other options are there?

A simple guide to whether you have space for an island is as follows. Take the width of your room, let’s say 4 metres for this example. Deduct 60cm for the depth of the run of units on each side. This leaves us 2.8 metres between the units. In a perfect scenario we would allow 1.2m between the units on each side and the front or back of the island which would leave us just 40cms for the island, obviously not enough. We can come down to 90cms space at the front and back of the island, which would then give us up to 1metre for the depth of the island itself, this is enough to work with, but it would depend greatly as to whether the dishwasher and oven are intruding into this area.

You could also consider an alternative such as peninsula coming into the room from the wall, rather than a free standing island in the middle. A good designer can tell you very quickly just what is and isn’t possible but many people underestimate just how much space you need to include an island in a kitchen. One little trick to give you a clue is to open your dishwasher or oven door fully then stand behind it. Make a note of how far out into the room you are stood and that should give you an idea of the minimum space you need before you can place your island.

Above all talk to your designer there are many different ways of achieving want you would like. Be prepared to compromise on that vision you have in your head should your space not allow it.